Featuring title fights in both the lightweight and bantamweight divisions, WEC 53 takes place Dec. 16 at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz. The main card airs live on Versus.

The two new contests are expected for the evening’s preliminary card.

Castillo (9-3 MMA, 4-3 WEC) enters the contest on the strength of a much-needed win over Dustin Poirier at August’s WEC 50. Prior to the win, the Team Alpha Male product had dropped back-to-back contests against top contenders Anthony Pettis and Shane Roller. Prior to the slide, “Last Call” had rattled-off wins over Ricardo Lamas, Phil Cardella and Rafael Dias.

Kerr (9-2 MMA, 1-1 WEC) returns to action after earning his first WEC win at June’s WEC 49 event. The Connecticut resident, who turns 28 years old on Friday, debuted for the promotion in November 2009 but suffered a first-round TKO at the hands of Kamal Shalorus. That loss snapped a run of five-straight wins for Kerr.

Brazilian standout Barao (23-1 MMA, 1-0 WEC) fights for the second time
under the WEC banner. In his WEC debut, Barao submitted Anthony Leone
with a third-round armbar. The victory pushed Barao’s remarkable win
streak to 23-straight fights. The Nova Uniao product hasn’t dropped a
fight since his April 2005 debut.

Cariaso (10-1 MMA, 1-0 WEC) returns to the WEC after posting a decision win over Rafael Rebello at WEC 49. The win was the fourth-straight for “Kamikaze,” who also boasts experience for the Strikeforce and ShoXC promotions.